Friday, December 26, 2008

I'm building a HMI for an industrial control application, in a hurry. I'm faced with some choices:

#1. Use a GUI system on top the Unity 3D RAD platform.#2. Use a 'standard' toolkit, like Windows Forms, GTK or QT.#3. Build a GUI system on top of Pyglet.

Number #1 would be great to use, because it will let me use 3D elements as GUI items, and builds a very slick looking product. Unfortunately it doesn't work well with the touchscreen, because of the way it's GUI system works. It assumes you are always using a mouse. Because of this, I'd have to work-around the problem, which is an unknown and a risk.

Number #2 would be ok, because I could use Python, and it will get me up and running quickly. However, because I'm using a touchscreen, with no keyboard, most of the pre built widgets would be useless. I'd need to build new custom widgets, which almost negates the advantage of using an existing toolkit.

Number #3 is a risk, because there is an amount of new code I would have write and test. I can't just dive in and write the application. However, I have written lots of OpenGL GUI code before, which I can draw on, and I can make it look much better than Number #2. I can also build the widgets explicitly to work with touch screens, which should make for a better end user experience.

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Global Game Jam will start at 5:00 PM Friday, January 30, 2009 through 5:00 pm Sunday, February 1, 2009, local time.

Arrangements for the venue and other things are still in progress, however there is likely to be a (small) entry cost for participants. Numbers are very limited, so you will need to get in quick.

To register, please email me at simonwittber@gmail.com, with your name and contact phone number. You must be able to attend the venue (likely to be in Northbridge, Western Australia) if you wish to participate.